I don’t know why (maybe because I love sports), but I find the USC open head coaching job fascinating. Here is a traditional powerhouse loaded with talented players and playing like they don’t care. This started under senior leadership mid way through last season and continues now. Being beat by teams with barely a quarter of their talent. USC seems to want someone who is an alumnus, but none are readily available. (Jack Del Rio wants an NFL job only it is said). I think what USC needs is a coach with experience and name recognition who can walk in, take control immediately and be able to handle the alumni and players agents and the rest of the circus down there in the land of the fake. He also has to be someone dedicated to a pro style game as USC isn't a school where gimmicks play well (see Michigan and the short lived Rodriquez era). That also eliminates coordinators taking it as a first time head coaching job. So some of the new up and coming blood (Fitzgerald at Northwestern…) isn't there yet with respect to handling a program like this. I hear Sarkisian (ex USC coordinator) is interested but what good is it to have yet another good recruiter who continuously under coaches his players? Mack Brown and Riley are too old. Stoops is an interesting choice to chase but I suspect he isn’t leaving Oklahoma. Peterson at Boise State is still a lightweight on the national scene. There are a lot of possibilities but I have some that interest me. One you know and one may surprise you. The obvious is Sabin. Before you say 'ain't leaving 'bama', let me make a few points- he often states he isn't leaving somewhere and then does; he has nothing left to prove at Alabama and it's pretty much all downhill from here; he brings instant street cred of epic proportion; if he comes to USC and resurrects another once storied program back to the top he will seal a legend surpassing any college coach that ever lived; and as a bonus he gets to live anywhere in the socal area as well as a blank check from the university. Don’t think his people aren't being wooed and wooed hard. My dark horse candidate is Bobby Petrino. Yeah, he hired a prostitute to service him at Arkansas and I get all that. But, he can flat out coach at the college level and knows how to build and run a program. He has served his time of penance and is ready to get back at it. Two more that I think would get high interest are Mike Belotti and John Gruden. Both may have cushy TV jobs, but the chance to come in and raise the USC sunken vessel seems to be the type of challenge competitors would love to have. Anyway, this hire will tell me all I need to know about Hayden as AD. His bungling of the Kiffen firing is brutal for it's amateurness. We shall see.
